Posts
 |
| Book Cover via Amazon.com |
Have you ever done something new and thought “Where was this all my life? Why didn’t anyone tell me about how good this was before I found out just now?”
That’s basically how I feel after reading this new book, a treasured gift of insight from the reviewer Peter Donnelly at The Reading Desk. And just for full disclosure guys, Peter and I are in the middle of a challenge! This is the first book of that challenge, Peter told me to read this, and I told him to read a book I suggested in return. We will be giving our various opinions for them.
For my part, Peter sent me something that I probably would have eventually found, but given what I’ve been reading lately, it might have taken years. This Novel is everything I love in books. It’s unique, it’s refreshing, but it also has classic tropes that are beautifully executed. To add to that, it’s basically the genre I cut my teeth on when I first became a reader, and I adore it.
What is this deliciously spiced wonder of a novel that I keep going on and on about? Well, sit on down at the table my friends, get your best silver cutlery, make sure you’re in a clean tunic and whatever you do, do not take a ride in the woods. This is my review of the compelling g mystery novel “The King’s Justice” by E.M Powell.
Opinion
For those of you just joining me on a review, I’d like to say welcome. This is my opinion of course, but I hope you enjoy my rantings. On with the review!!
E.M Powell is a well written and revered author for a reason. This book is masterfully done in tones that I love, and it dragged me from my regular comfy chair to a world of the medieval courts. You know, back to the good ol’ days! Where there wasn’t bathrooms, or women’s rights, or cars, or basically the idea of innocent until proven guilty. Back when to determine if someone actually is or is not innocent of a crime they are accused of, they had some terrible trial called “The Ordeal” and were either drown or stoned or burned or something horrible to see if God Almighty could clue them into the innocence of a crime. Yeah, we head to that part of the time, and to where legal rights were in their infancy compared to now, where there were clerks and justices, and when life was very different for criminals.
I don’t ever want to know how tough that kind of world actually was, but thankfully due to thorough research and power of the pen, I got a glimpse of real history in this story. What I adore about the story is that this isn’t the egotistical forensics in Victorian England and the land of Collin-Doyle’s “Sherlock Holmes” that is walking me through a crime. Not at all, we get humanity. In the form of our ‘detective”, the incredibly judgmental Clerk Aeired Barling of Henry the Second’s court.
Yeah, you remember Henry the Second, don’t you?
No?
Famous King of England, was responsible for a lot of changes to the boundaries of Church and State at a time well before that was considered to be important?
No eh? You still don’t remember him?
Does Thomas Becket’s murder ring any bells?
Still no?
Have no fears my friends, this book still is easy to read and comprehend even if you don’t know a lot about the history for the time period it is written in! Don’t let my neediness of history scare you away. You do not at all have to be a history buff to follow this plot, and that’s why I mentioned all of this. I want anyone to really get into this story the way I did, so I also listened to part of it in the car with my eight-year-old daughter to see what she thought.
This is an enjoyable and easy to understand the book, which is set in that ancient time, and has so many beautiful insights into terrible things. The plot is filled with delicious, mysterious intrigue. If you are like me and you love making charts while you read a good “Who Done It?” this is a good book for it. My daughter, who I am teaching this fun skill, was convinced that the bad guy was hidden. She never stayed with me long enough to find out, and I’m not going to spoil it for you, but the plot is masterfully hidden and yet in plain sight.
And there are bits of everything in this book, from common ways people lived, to terrible things that were just part of the culture back in the 12th century. My daughter caught on to one thing. “Why is the lady being treated like that mommy? If I acted like that, I’d be in time out for a month.” She said to one part of the sub character plot regarding one of the women. I had to pause it, but I explained ladies were brought up differently back then, and this woman had a very different life even to the norm.
This book does a lot to talk to many issues from women's rights, to even briefly, sexual preference and the way it was considered. And yet nothing of those issues ever overwhelmed the overall theme of the book. The book was fantastic in that way.
Let me talk about the characters some without spoilers. Our main two protagonists are Hugo Stanton and Aeired Barling. To be fair, I think the main protagonist is intended to be Stanton, but I have such a place in my heart for Barling. Barling is the 12th-century version of “Joe Friday” the most iconic American detective of the 1960’s show “Dragnet,” and I think Barling is lovely.
In Barling we have someone who is stuffy, logical, he’s very much like me in some ways with his data research. I love that he adores logic and order, I love that he has things in his past that give him pause, and I love that though he is harsh eventually people understand why. I want to believe in my heart Barling is an ISTJ on Meyers Brigs, because he acts like one. As an ISTJ, we need more heroes in our literature to represent us so well and prove to the world we are not cold, we merely want order and structure with our lives, so they are not so chaotic.
To contrast him is Stanton, who I really cannot tell what his Meyer’s Brigs personality is off the bat because he hides a lot of himself in his work. Both men complement each other well in the book. The beginning is filled with them bumping heads but as time goes on, like any good relationship working or otherwise, it smooths out. The contrast in character is lovely and welcoming.
With them come some fantastic characters in the story from the Brazen Agnus Smith to the sad but I think ultimately lovable John Webb. Oh, John Webb. My heart is with that man-child, and I believe he is precious even if he’s in such poor conditions. I have an autistic son, and just reading about John touched my motherly soul, also if John isn’t actually autistic at all. Honestly, the hardest part for me was near the end of the book about baby John. No spoilers but I had to cry for a while after reading it because it utterly broke my heart.
That’s what makes this book so good. I laughed heartily at some parts, got very angry at others, was frustrated by the way people behaved in some sections, but then John Webb touched and broke my heart only to make me feel happy again. EM Powell writes so beautifully that I had experienced the entire roller coaster of emotions in one single mystery novel.
The pacing in the story is marvelous. At no point does it drag, nor cause any discomfort. It’s not a super long book, nor is it a pamphlet of a novel, but it’s just right when it comes to quantity. The editing on it is masterful. Honestly, this book is so good compared to some others even in the same genre, that it should overtake them.
Now, for a critique and like all of my critiques this is my opinion. In “The Kings Justice” I felt there was one tiny piece I didn’t understand in the story. I consider this a bit of a missed opportunity to further the story’s realism as well as character development. It’s very possible that it was brushed over in such a way that made me miss it, but I did go back and read and even threw on the audible version to re-listen to see if I could find it, and I could not find what I was looking for in any sort of reasonable certainty. This may have a very tiny spoiler in it about a character, so if you are not interested avoid the next paragraph entirely.
There is a character named Lord Edgar, and you all will get to know him. During the exploration and discovery of the mystery, it becomes apparent that Lord Edgar had never married and yet is the town’s one and only nobleman. While later we discover some things about him that could possibly explain why he did not have a wife, the way he avoided marriage all together was not cleared up. As I understood it, all men and women had no choice in getting married, they just had to get married rich or poor. Forced and arranged marriage was even mentioned in the book when it came to other characters. This tiny thing is basically my only criticism, why was it he Edgar got away with not being married as long as he did? How did he avoid an arranged marriage because again, parents picked your partner for you? Thus this is the only and only critique I had for an entirely enjoyable novel.
One so good, I want to read more of the series because, for a stand-alone, this is a beautiful story!
Score
I’m going to give this a 92/100. It’s pretty close to perfect, save for that piece about the Lord and his ability to escape the getting married. On Goodreads, this is a 5 Star Review, and I think it’s terrific. I know I’ll reread it, and I’m confident I’ll pick up the series because I loved it.
But what did you think fellow readers? Have you read “The King’s Justice”? What do you think about Stanton and Barling? Do you feel like I do and they are the 12th’ Century’s Dragnet incarnate? Do you believe Barling is more believable a criminal justice hero than Holmes is?
Let me know in the comments down below!
Let me know in the comments down below!
And happy reading to you all!
Mrs. Y.
